Cool Tools for Teaching May 2011 Session One

1. Cool Tools for TeachingMay 2011Session One Presenters: Jan Gabel-Goes Gwen AtheneTarbox Making Group Projects Work: How to Maximize the Outcomes Of Group Work for your Students

2. Session One • How to get and maintain student cooperation through team dynamics, norms, roles, conflict resolution, contracts and follow through

3. The Philosophy of Collaborative Learning Why do group work? • Helps with retention, self efficacy, better learning of concepts, improves individual accountability. • Provides students with a vital skill for the world of work, growth in students’ interpersonal skills, critical thinking.

4. Who should use group work? • Group projects can work well for freshmen through grad students. • Shy students are more likely to learn and participate; outgoing students are more likely to learn to share ideas, rather than direct their peers • Everyone learns strategies to deal with positive and negative group dynamics

5. Establishing a Collaborative Learning Classroom What types of projects work well in the group setting? Oral and/or Written • Session Two will concentrate on designing assignments for group work for your class.

6. What size classes can use group work? • Collaborative learning can work in large lecture and small hands-on classes and everything in between. What size should groups be? • Group sizes can vary from “pair and share” to 6 maximum.

7. Achieving Results in a Collaborative Learning Classroom What are common problems with groups? How do you overcome the issues? • Strategies for dealing with the “storming” stage of group work. • Strategies for getting students to take responsibility for their group’s performance via contracts

8. How should groups be organized? • Self select v. instructor • Organized and diverse, not homogeneous • Must discuss Team Dynamics • Group Roles, Norms, Contracts • Dangers of Groupthink and Dysfunctional Behaviors • Conflict Resolution & Listening Styles

9. Group Dynamics • Interactions & processes that take place among the members of a team • Phases of team development which are Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing & Adjourning (Orientation, Conflict, Brainstorming, Emergence, Reinforcement) • Understand and appreciate each other’s strengths (and weaknesses) Checklist sheet

10. Group Roles • Leader/Manager/Organizer • Task Oriented: Time keeper, presenter • Team maintenance: researcher, get questions answered • Must make sense for the assignment and students in the team • Negative role: self-oriented member with hidden agenda to meet personal needs only

11. Group Norms • Informal standards of conduct that members share and that guide member behavior. • Examples: be at all team meetings, be available for out of class meetings, responsiveness to phone/email messages, extent to which equal share of work done, general contributor to team effort, promptness in completing work (sheet)

12. Contract Ideas/Uses • Agree on project goals • Bond first • Clarify individual responsibilities • Establish clear processes • Avoiding writing as a group but can plan, research, outline together • Assign task of writing to one person or divide larger projects among multiple writers

13. Groupthink & Dysfunctional Behaviors • Groupthink occurs when peer pressures cause individual member to withhold contrary or unpopular opinions. Pressure to conform with accepted norms • Dysfunctional Behaviors & Antidotes • Ghosts • Controllers • Distracters • Pleasers • Blamers Get them talking to each other (& you if necessary) Here is where team coaches can help if available.

14. Conflict Resolution – Goal is Win/Win Strategy • Deal with minor conflict before becomes major • Communication is key – get all parties involved • Openness – get feelings out in the open before dealing with main issue

15. More conflict resolution • Research – seek factual reasons for the problem before seeking solutions • Flexibility – consider all brainstormed solutions before locking in on just one • Fair play • Alliance – get opponents to fight together against “outside forces” such as the competition instead of each other.

16. Make Team Meetings Count • Have an agenda sent out ahead of time • Keep discussion on track • Follow rules, Parliamentary Procedure • Robert’s Rules of Order • Encourage participation by all • Participate actively; read nonverbals • Establish follow up and close effectively

17. Listening skills helpful • Content listening: to understand and retain information • Critical listening: to evaluate information and make decisions • Empathic listening: to understand speaker’s feelings, needs and wants • Active listening, turn off biases and filters and listen with whole body

18. Assessment How and when to assess/evaluate group work? • Team scores v. individual scores • Instructor feedback, self feedback, and peer feedback (based on agreed upon team norms) • Timing: at end of the project with check in along the way is best.

19. Session Two tomorrow, same time, same place • Designing assignments for group work: changing methodologies and rubrics to reflect the group situation as part of the grading process. Linking assignments to learning outcomes. • Thanks very much! • Questions? • Source: Bovee & Thill, 2011, Excellence in Business Communication 9e, Pearson Education